Details
LEATHERHEAD REIGATE ROAD
TQ/15/SE (south side, off)
6/158
Cherkley Court, with attached
garden walls
GV II
Large house. c.1870, for Abraham Dixon, rebuilt after fire in 1893 (rainwater
heads dated 1869 on service wing, 1893 on main range); acquired c.1907 by Max
Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook), who improved it internally, and made some additions.
Mostly stuccoed brick, with some ashlar, and slate roofs. Irregular plan on north-
south axis with a large U-shaped service block attached at the north-east corner
and a flat-roofed pavilion (probably an addition) at the south-east corner.
Eclectic style, with classical features. Two and 3 storeys; banded rustication at
ground floor, pilasters of 2 superimposed orders (Tuscan at ground floor, Ionic
above, and coupled at the corners) with an intermediate cornice, a modillioned
eaves cornice, and balustraded parapet (these carried round); hipped and mansard
roofs, with various tall corniced chimneys. The east front has a projected 3-bay
centre which has a prominent balustraded Tuscan porch protecting a wide round-
headed doorway with rusticated surround, large keystone, carved swags, and
panelled double doors under a semicircular fanlight; sashed windows on both
floors, those at ground floor with keystones and those above segmental-headed
with shouldered architraves (but that to the left altered as a casement); and a
carved upstand in the centre of the parapet. To the left is a projecting single-
storey flat-roofed pavilion of banded ashlar masonry with vermiculated corner
pilasters, moulded cornice, balustraded parapet with urns, and a sashed window in
the front protected by a wrought-iron screen. To the right is a narrow one-bay
link and a 2-storey canted bay which have features and fenestration like those
of the centre. The service block forms a projecting wing at this end, of 3
storeys to the same height and 5x4 bays, with a plinth, 1st floor sill-band, a
banded corner pilaster, cornice and balustrade like the main front, keyed
architraves to the windows at 1st floor and lugged architraves to those at 2nd
floor (which are square); its front wall has no openings in the 1st bay, a round-
headed doorway in the 2nd bay, but is otherwise, matching; and on the north side
an L-shaped single-storey outbuilding encloses a courtyard between the unequal
rear wings. The west front of the main range is symmetrical, with 2-storey
canted bays flanking a 5-bay centre, which has a balustraded loggia of Tuscan
columns and round-headed arches protecting tall French windows at ground floor,
and at 1st floor 3 windows like those at the front (but with altered glazing)
alternating with roundels containing statuettes; the flanking bays have features
and fenestration like the front, and tall mansard roofs with projecting sashed
dormer windows under segmental pediments, flanked by oculi. Attached to the
north side and running north are the front and rear walls of a long terraced
garden: the rear wall (screening the garden from the service wing and courtyard
behind it) is one storey high, with pilasters and some round-headed doorways and
niches, and both have balustraded parapets with urns. The south front, of 3 wide
bays, has coupled round-headed French windows in the centre, under a balcony
with ornamental cast-iron railings supported by Tuscan columns and large
brackets, tripartite windows on both floors (those at ground floor in rectangular
bays), and 2 mansard roofs. Interior not inspected. History: the house was the
principal home of Lord Beaverbrook, press magnate and politician, and the
meeting place of many leading figures of the day from the 1st World War to his
death here in 1964. Reference: A.J.P.Taylor Beaverbrook (1974), passim.
Listing NGR: TQ1781654449
